Inconsistencies
by Pikapower9
Summary: When Graystripe makes a speech claiming Mistystar is his daughter, Jayfeather is confused. Why is every cat insisting that it's true? Why do cats keep randomly coming back to life? And why in the name of StarClan do Dovewing's eyes keep changing color?


**This is a fun idea I had. What if a Warrior cat started to notice the various inconsistencies in their world, from cats changing descriptions to characters forgetting their own backstories?**

 **I thought the infamous speech from the first edition of Bramblestar's Storm where Graystripe thinks Mistystar is his daughter was a good starting point.**

 **Leave a review if you want me to continue!**

* * *

Jayfeather sat near the medicine den corner of the tunnel with Briarlight. Lilyheart had just been made a warrior, and Graystripe and Sandstorm had just announced their intentions to join the elders.

Graystripe was about to make his retirement speech. "Cats of ThunderClan," Graystripe began. "I'm so glad that I came back to find ThunderClan. I could never have made the journey without Millie, and I was so blessed by StarClan to have a second chance to raise kits. I'll never forget Silverstream or Stonefur," he went on, "and I can scarcely believe that my daughter Mistystar is now leader of RiverClan." _Wait, what?_ Graystripe kept going, seeming not to notice his mistake.

"He must be very proud of Mistystar," Jayfeather purred in Briarlight's ear.

"Of course he is," Briarlight replied. "She _is_ his daughter."

"Haha, very funny."

"What is?" Briarlight narrowed her eyes.

Jayfeather was surprised she was continuing the joke but kept going. "Well, I mean, that was a very strange thing to slip up on. Graystripe obviously can't be Mistystar's father."

"Why not?" Her voice was sharp with anger- even though Jayfeather was no longer an empath he could tell that.

"Well, I mean, it's kind of impossible," he went on. "Mistystar is at least four seasons older than Graystripe."

"That was uncalled for. How can you deny my father's first litter during his retirement ceremony? Who does that?" Bramblestar was now reciting the ritual words that would send Graystripe and Sandstorm into retirement, and Jayfeather was utterly confused.

Bumblestripe walked over. "What's going on?" he whispered.

"Jayfeather is making smart remarks about how Mistystar can't be Graystripe's daughter."

"Why would you say that?" Bumblestripe hissed furiously. "Jayfeather, you of all cats should know that being half-Clan isn't bad."

"That's not what I meant, mousebrains."

"Then what did you mean?"

Jayfeather purred. Bumblestripe never sounded this angry. They had to be pulling his whiskers.

"How can you laugh? This is supposed to be a joyous time and you're ruining it!" Briarlight wailed quietly.

She shuffled around and then pointedly turned her back. Bumblestripe murmured softly in her ear and Jayfeather could feel the tom's glare even though he was blind.

 _Wait. I don't understand._ He couldn't be the only one to hear it, right? The rest of the Clan must know. This must be some kind of elaborate Clanwide joke. Jayfeather listened to his Clanmates cheers as Graystripe and Sandstorm joined the elders' den, shocked that no cat said anything.

He decided to talk to Graystripe about it. Jayfeather walked up with the rest of the crowd lining up to congratulate the elder.

"Wow, you had me going there for a moment.," Jayfeather meowed when he reached the front of the crowd. "I mean, Mistystar, daughter of Graystripe? Ha. Did you think I wouldn't notice?"

"Huh?" Graystripe sounded confused.

Lionblaze swooped in and pulled Jayfeather aside. "Jayfeather, are you feeling alright?"

"Look, Lionblaze, it was kind of funny while it lasted, but it's getting old." He could tell from the murmurs that cats were staring.

"What are you talking about?" asked Lionblaze.

"Didn't you hear Graystripe?" A wave of exasperation washed through Jayfeather's pelt. "He said that Mistystar was his daughter."

"And?"

"Mistystar is _Bluestar's_ daughter!"

Lionblaze frowned thoughtfully. "No, she's Graystripe's daughter."

"No," Jayfeather repeated. "Mistystar is Bluestar's daughter. Feathertail and Stormfur are Graystripe's kits, remember? We've even met Stormfur!"

Lionblaze began to back away. "I'm getting Leafpool."

Jayfeather snarled in frustration. This was getting ridiculous.

* * *

"Now what seems to be the problem?" Leafpool meowed, taking charge as the Clan's senior medicine cat. Lionblaze sat next to her. Both cats tried to speak in an undertone but were unsuccessful.

"It's Jayfeather. He's having trouble remembering things."

"Oh?"

"He thinks Graystripe isn't Mistystar's father all of a sudden."

"Well, that is certainly very strange."

Jayfeather placed his head on his paws and sighed. The whole situation was absurd. _I'm sure the whole Clan will have a laugh at my expense when this is done,_ he thought, grumbling. He knew he should be protesting more but every cat he talked to seemed so certain that Mistystar was Graystripe's daughter. It made no sense. For StarClan's sake, Graystripe was younger than the RiverClan leader!

He had to admit it was starting to scare him. What if it wasn't a joke? What if he wasn't remembering things correctly? How would he be a medicine cat then?

"Do you feel sick, Jayfeather?" Leafpool questioned him. "Does your belly hurt?"

"No."

"Any tick bites?"

"No."

"Have you eaten any catnip recently?"

"No."

"Maybe it's just stress," Leafpool meowed, and then to Jayfeather's irritation, she turned to Lionblaze. "I think it will be best if he gets some rest tonight. He will hopefully feel better in the morning."

* * *

It was night. Briarlight wasn't mad at him anymore since Leafpool had explained to her that he was apparently having memory problems, but things were still awkward. Jayfeather found that he couldn't sleep, apart from a strange ominous dream in which he was talking to Dovewing. It wasn't that odd in and of itself- he and Dovewing had spoken of normal things. But Dovewing's eye color changed every time he looked at her, first pale green, then gold, then yellow, then green again. They were even violet at one point. He realized when he had seen her in the dream world before she had had different color eyes almost every time, and he hadn't thought anything was out of the ordinary. But now...

 _Cats don't spontaneously change eye colors, do they?_

The dream disturbed him, but it had nothing on the strangeness of every cat in ThunderClan claiming Graystripe was Mistystar's father. He slipped away from Leafpool and Briarlight in the middle of the night and crept up to his brother. _I'm going to question him now,_ Jayfeather thought. _He will be too tired to keep up the joke._ Making sure to keep quiet, he jabbed Lionblaze's belly with a paw.

The tom groaned. "What is it, Jayfeather?"

"Who are Bluestar's kits?" he hissed.

"What?"

"Who are Bluestar's kits?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"Answer the question. Who are Bluestar's kits?"

"Mistystar and Stonefur. Duh."

"So Mistystar isn't Graystripe's daughter?" Jayfeather demanded.

"Why would any cat think that?" Lionblaze meowed.

" _You_ thought that!" Jayfeather hissed.

"Do you mind?" A new voice spoke up. It was Brackenfur. "Some cats are trying to sleep."

Jayfeather turned his head. "Brackenfur, what are the kits in Graystripe's first litter called?"

"Feathertail and Stormfur," Brackenfur answered. "Now will you quiet down?"

"But you told me Mistystar was Graystripe's kit yesterday!" Jayfeather meowed.

"Then I must have misspoke," Brackenfur replied calmly.

"What are you all talking about?" Thornclaw meowed.

"Some nonsense about Mistystar being Graystripe's kit," Cloudtail meowed.

"Jayfeather, are you okay?" Dovewing meowed.

"He's been having memory problems," Lionblaze meowed.

Jayfeather bristled. "I'm fine." He stalked off, lashing his tail.

Jayfeather padded out of the tunnel, feeling a refreshing blast of cool air on his face. The breeze did nothing to calm him though. If it hadn't been clear before, it was now.

Something was terribly wrong. There were three possibilities for what was happening: either Jayfeather was losing his mind, every other cat had lost their mind, or every cat in ThunderClan was involved in a massive gaslighting scheme.

Jayfeather didn't know which option was worse.


End file.
